“The rich people are not going to do anything for us”

Nearly three months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, a WSWS reporting team spoke to students at the island’s only public university about the ongoing crisis and the way forward for workers and youth.

On-the-spot report

“The island has been turned upside down since the storm”

By
Genevieve Leigh and Zac Corrigan,
14 December 2017

Nearly three months after Hurricane Maria made landfall a WSWS reporting team spoke to residents in San Sebastian, Puerto about the discrepancy between official news reports of the island’s recovery and the actual conditions they face.

With social anger growing against the criminal indifference of the Trump administration and new demands for austerity measures, the trade unions are desperately trying to block the eruption of working-class struggle.

Working people at a South Bronx event to collect aid for people in the US territory spoke to the WSWS about their anger over the Trump administration’s lack of response to the devastation of Hurricane Maria, which struck nearly two weeks ago.

On May 14, Puerto Rican security forces moved to break a student strike by laying siege to the Rio Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico, in violation of the long-standing tradition of autonomy at UPR campuses.

Students have occupied Puerto Rico’s largest university, the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, in a suburb of San Juan, to oppose tuition increases and the privatization plans of Governor Luis Fortuño.

Hundreds of thousands of workers joined a day-long general strike Thursday in opposition to the layoffs of tens of thousands of public employees ordered by the island territory’s Governor Luis Fortuño.

The inhabitants of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques are to take the United States Navy to court for compensation over a claim that its use of depleted uranium (DU) shells has caused a cancer epidemic.